Oh, untold hoards of loving readers, I guess this is sort of like goodbye. After five years of life in the sticky, smoky trenches of music journalism, I’m hanging up my hat and paddling my canoe in the direction of uncharted waters. Enough banal metaphor usage for you? Ya, for me, too.

I know that I don’t have to worry about you once I’m gone, loving readers. The webosphere is so full of smart, eloquent folks writing about music that I know you won’t suffer from any shortage of information or half-baked ranting. I am, on the other hand, a bit concerned about what’s going to happen to the music industry once my back is turned.

State of the Tune-ion

Things are looking a bit shaky these days. While I’ve enjoyed guiding you through the collapse of the major label-dominated music industry, the glittering digital phoenix that has risen from its ashes isn’t exactly everything it’s promised to be.

While professional-grade recording equipment has become accessible to all, it’s also created a production scene ripe for manipulation by middlemen who promise much to aspiring artists, but deliver little.

While the Internet offers unprecedented levels of access to promotional tools and global fan bases, it also creates a fertile breeding ground for mediocrity, and for a new kind of anonymity, bred not by obscurity, but by dearth of access.

“Ground control to Major Tom / Ground control to Major Tom: / Take your protein pills and put your helmet on…”

Bet you didn’t know, all the times you were singing along to “Space Oddity” in the shower, that ground control actually does sing to its astronauts. And now you can, too! It’s true, in a bizarre twist of inter-galactic vibrations, NASA is offering musicians the chance to make music for astronauts. Here’s the deal:

There’s a tradition at NASA – called the Wakeup Song – of playing music to start the astronauts’ day on space missions. It’s been going on ever since the Apollo program in the sixties, when the folks at mission control sang songs to the astronauts returning from the moon landing.

Now that the final missions of the space shuttle program are coming up (one in November and one in February), NASA’s giving indie artists the chance to submit original songs to be played to wake up the astronauts on their last space adventures.

Contest Details

The songs have to be original, and they have to be submitted by January 10, 2011, in time for the February 26^th launch. NASA’s going to pick the best songs, and then invite people to vote online to pick TWO winners. And no, you don’t get paid anything, but your song does get played in space, for astronauts. And based on the tone of the SPACE ROCK website, it seems like there will be plenty of promotional opportunities for contest winners.

I went to an interesting show last night. It involved five bands, all in the process of recording their first album at the same studio. The owner of the studio, who is, I guess you could say, “co-producing” the album along with the artists, suggested that they put on the showcase in order to do some live sound and video recording. If they were able to create some successful media, it could be incorporated into their album and/or EPK in various ways.

While the producer suggested a venue, along with video and sound people for the project, it was the bands’ job to book the venue, promote the show, sell the tickets, and pay the tech people. If they managed to record quality sound and video, the producer would then know just what to do with it.

The night was a big success, but of course the bands didn’t actually make any money. After the venue, technicians, and set players for solo artists were paid off, the only reward was some hopefully usable recordings. The bands had been walked through part of the process of production, however, and they were all delighted at having participated in such a professional event.

Indie Limbo

This is a trend that we’re seeing a lot of these days, isn’t it? Bands and musicians hovering in a kind of indeterminate state between being DIY and having the support of a label or producer.

If you’re a musician or you’re in a band, it’s pretty important to be able to make videos. Music videos, and also just videos of you being your charming, disgusting, vulgar, shocking, insightful, intelligent, funny, possibly naked, drunk, and disorderly selves. Luckily, much like putting together an album, these days making a video isn’t exactly rocket science, and it doesn’t have to be expensive.

The newest crop of smart phones on the market are turning into real, serious business video recorders. These devices are ideal for carrying around and recording shows, impromptu jams, and all those bonkers moments that will become great music video material. What makes these phones better than their ancestors are features like HD video recording and on-the-go editing software. But wait! Don’t go running out to buy an iPhone 4 just yet. There are other phones on the market with similar technology. Let’s take a look at them:

The iPhone 4 vs. The N8 vs. The HTC EVO

Camera!

While Steve Jobs assures us that the iPhone’s 5 megapixel camera is plenty enough pixels for any camera, Google’s newest HTC phone rocks 8 megapixels, while the Nokia N8 comes in for the win with a cool 12. The media might be hyping the iPhone 4, but the N8 is what the people love!

Video Recording

The iPhone is the winner here. It does 720p at 30fps. While the HTC and the N8 both do 720p video, they also run at 24 and 25 fps, respectively, which might explain Jobs’ confidence regarding video quality.

Because you can’t have music without bureaucracy!

The dramatic shifts that have taken place in the music industry over the last decade have shaken up and set to crumbling some of the old institutions that built and shaped music as we know it. The big labels are going down. The big records stores are all but gone. Healthier, happier, and more numerous than ever before, on the other hand, are the music industry organizations, particularly those catering to the independent artists labels.

Organizations like the RIAA and the NMPA are nothing new. They’ve been protecting the rights of – well, not artists, per se – but certainly music publishers and distributors in the U.S. for the better part of a century. And in countries with smaller music industries, like Canada and Australia, national organizations have long worked to promote and protect artists on the world stage.

Of course, if you’re a musician from one of the less chart-topping countries, you know just how useful these organizations are.

The Indie Org

Over the course of the last ten five years, we’ve seen the rise of a new type of organization – the independent musicians’ organization – various groups dedicated to protecting the rights of independent artists from the evil strangleholds of corporations, and defending music from the greedy clutches of digital technology users.

A couple of examples of these new organizations include the Merlin Network and The American Association of Independent Music.

How would you like to release an album on a label with absolutely no deal in writing? Does it sound risky? Or is the real risk in this climate making a deal, and signing on the dotted line?

Take, for example, the case of Curren$y. Don’t let the dollar sign in his name fool you. This New Orleans-born emcee is hot, and he’s not the clueless commercial rapper his name implies. In fact, he’s probably learned more about the rap game over the last decade than more folks learn in their lives, and for the release of his first album, the already highly acclaimed Pilot Talk, it was no-deals no-contracts all the way.

Pilot Talk was released on July 15^th through the newly-resurrected Roc-A-Fella Records label. Sort of.

Setting The Stage For Indie Hip Hop Heroes

You remember what happened with Roc-A-Fella, right? The label was started by Jay-Z and friends Damon Dash and Biggs Burke because they couldn’t find a major label willing to get behind Jay-Z (hero moment #1). Then, once they hit it big, Roc-A-Fella got bought by Def Jam (boo!), which made Jay-Z its CEO and president (boo!), and saw Dash and Burke quickly go their own way after they realized they had nothing like control of their label anymore (hero moment #2).

I’ve been hitting a lot of folk music festivals this summer, most of which involve a weekend of shows and usually camping near the festival grounds. But, of course, a great outdoor festival is more than that. It’s sunburnt faces and children dancing in fairy costumes, muddy feet and intimate workshops with artists, pine needle naps and mosquitoes, BBQ and cold beer and bonfire smoke, live music until one or three in the morning, and then back to the campground to jam until dawn.

For musicians, these late-night, boozy jams can be all-important. Because more than during stage performances, more than in backstage kitchen tents, this is where mettle is tested and relationships are forged. For a young artist trying to break into a local (or even national) music scene, jamming is a chance to show her quality, and get to know some of the musicians and producers and general folks-about-town that she needs to know to advance her career. Impress, make friends, and she’ll find herself becoming a part of the music scene.

If she knows her jam etiquette, that is.

Jamming etiquette is a complex thing, particularly when you’re in a relaxed environment, and not an organized Sunday afternoon blues jam at the local pub. At organized jams, there’s usually a house band, and obvious rules that you can play along to, but at a freestyle party jam, etiquette becomes a bit more complex. Ironically, the very free and open nature of the event – with its myriad possibilities for intense emotional experience – make it all the trickier to navigate gracefully.

Did any of you follow the whole Old Spice Man nuttiness that went down a few weeks ago? Old Spice used the online popularity of their recent commercials to stage a social media blitz. They invited users from all the major social networks on the web to ask questions to the Old Spice Man, and he answered them via YouTube videos.

The unique thing about the Old Spice Man videos was the speed with which they were released. Someone asked a question on Twitter, and minutes later, a hilarious video response was up on YouTube. Social media experts say this campaign was so successful because there is an ever-growing demand for live and real-time video online.

What Does This Have To Do With Music?

We’ve finally hit that point where our computers and internet connections are fast enough for live streaming video to actually be successful. And people love it. The reality and the intimacy of this type of connection – not just with friends, but with brands and celebrities and political figures – is slated to be the next big thing. Which is why it’s time for musicians to get on board.

And yes, we’ve seen it before. Big media companies and businesses have been hosting live feeds of concerts online since 1996 (Free Tibet!), and DJs have been webcasting jams and shows on video streaming platforms for a while. But now the time is ripe for independent artists hosting live video events, DIY style. No “And now, the iPad brings you Bon Jovi!” brand sponsorship necessary.

A few weeks ago, Prince made headlines by claiming that,

“The internet is completely over. I don’t see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else.”

Not surprisingly, the famously eccentric / multi-platinum songwriter got pretty seriously mocked for his statement, particularly for going on to compare the internet to MTV as something that was once hip but is now outdated.

And it’s easy to laugh these comments off as the petulant wailing of an industry dinosaur, but what if we worked from the assumption that Prince is not a nut, and took a closer look at what he’s actually saying.

Is The Internet Over For Musicians?

Prince made these comments in relation to the release of his new album, 20Ten, which is not being released digitally. In fact, the only way the album is available is through the purchase of various European newspapers, which come with a copy of the CD (included in the price of the paper).

This strategy begs the question: is Prince doing this purely to spite the internet, or is he doing it because experience has taught him that he will gain greater attention, distribution – and potentially, profits – via these newspaper deals than he would online?

The cool thing about being an independent musician is that you can do pretty much whatever you want. Take, for example, Amanda Palmer, maybe best known for her work as half of the Dresden Dolls, maybe best known for making people mad by singing about Oasis and rape and abortion – oh my! – in the same song.

Palmer left her label, RoadRunner Records, earlier this year, after realizing that she could do a lot better with a mailing list and an active blog than she’d ever done under the heavy hand of a recording contract. And now she’s putting her independence to the test by releasing an album of cover songs, lovingly entitled, Amanda Palmer Performs The Popular Hits of Radiohead on Her Magical Ukulele.

The album is being released digitally and on vinyl (not on CD because, y’know, CDs are over). You can buy the download for an absolute rock-bottom minimum of 84 cents, which covers the transaction fees and royalties for Radiohead. Palmer is also offering bundles to fans including ukulelehead t-shirts, private Skype uke concerts, and hand-painted, Creep/Fake Plastic Trees/High and Dry-inspired ukuleles.

The album dropped yesterday, although official launch day is today. You can check out a live webcast by Palmer and friends promoting the record at 6pm EST right here. Bring your goblet, there will be drinking.

I worked at a used bookstore in high school and college, and I learned something interesting about booksellers: most people who sell used books don’t read. My boss and his colleagues told me that over the years, sellers see so many books come and go that it becomes almost impossible to choose one to read, and eventually, you just kinda give up.

I remembered that detail this week as I was reading an interview at Wired.com with the founder of Tommy Boy Records, Tom Silverman. Silverman has a lot of things to say that are contrary to the whole, “hey-ho, technology is saving the music industry” line we hear so much these days. The bad news? The music market is so glutted with bands and artists struggling to DIY that nobody is making any money. Fewer artists are breaking through today than ever before.

According to Silverman, our love affair with technology has created a supersaturated system whereby there is too much content for any quality to rise to the top. He quotes numbers claiming that 79,000 (80%) of the albums released last year sold under 100 copies – a number so insignificant in terms of industry stats that it might as well not exist. In other words, the industry itself is becoming like a used bookseller, so overwhelmed by choice that all those many choices may as well not exist.

Indie Artists Aren’t Surviving

Some musicians are independent whether they like it or not. They can try to conform, try to get on board with a label and produce pretty, marketable pop tracks, but in the end they find it impossible, and system collapse is inevitable. The tragedy of this whole scenario is that it can actually destroy talented people, compromise creativity, and confuse artistic instincts. Case in point: the strange and corrupted career of Liz Phair.

Phair is making headlines this week for all the wrong reasons. She released her new album, Funstyle, on the 4th of July, and if you thought she’d been getting mixed reviews as of late, the word on Funstyle is anything but. Pitchfork called it “horrible on every conceivable level.” MusicRadar called it “bizarro.” And LATimesBlog generously suggests that you shouldn’t overlook it, even if it is terrible.

Rough.

The album, Phair’s sixth, was released exclusively online, because according to her, she lost both label and manager for it. In response to reviews of Funstyle, the homepage of her website reads:

How To Like It.

You were never supposed to hear these songs. These songs lost me my management, my record deal and a lot of nights of sleep.

Yes, I rapped one of them. I’m as surprised as you are. But here is the thing you need to know about these songs and the ones coming next: These are all me. Love them, or hate them, but don’t mistake them for anything other than an entirely personal, un-tethered-from-the-machine, free for all view of the world, refracted through my own crazy lens.

You hear a common line from people who download ripped music online: “maybe I don’t pay for the albums, but I go to concerts, I buy the t-shirts, I support the artists I listen to.”

The sentiment is echoed in business models being pushed by the music industry itself. The summer music festival scene is exploding. The hugest multi-day concerts, like Austin City Limits and Sasquatch, are selling out months ahead of time. Old staples, like Sarah’s McLaughlin’s Lilith Fair, are being reborn, and locally-organized independent music festivals and folk festivals are springing up and growing all over the world.

And the festival model makes sense for promoters and producers. Rather than funneling time and money into a single artist, and concerts that may draw a few hundred fans, they get to run an efficient, cost-effective music Wal-mart: huge crowds all get the same decent product, relatively low cost-per-band, short sets, cattle-style herding from beer to food to port-a-potty. It all runs like a big box store for concert-goers.

Even during a recession, kids are willing to fork over the cash (as much as $300.00 for a basic ticket to a 4-day festival) to see their favorite bands and enjoy the festival experience. And some, like Bonnaroo, are growing exponentially, pulling in $30 million last year alone through ticket sales and ad partnerships.

Which sounds great! That means all my favorite bands are out there enjoying the summer festival tour circuit and making the money they’re not getting from CD sales, right?